The many display globes of the earth currently marketed for school or home use share one limitation: Globes display political, social, scientific and other types of information that are made obsolete through developments over time. Although many display globes are sold to schools and the public, the buyers fully realize that many of the detailed features and much of the data imprinted on the globes will sooner or later be outmoded.
Display globe manufacturers therefore are forced to produce two completely different types of globes so as to present as wide a choice to the public as possible. One type is a globe with only the most basic information that is unlikely to change over the immediate future. The second type is a globe displaying a wide display of political and social data even though that information is anticipated to be obsolete in the near future. Many potential buyers decide not to invest in a globe that does not meet their desire to own a product that is both sophisticated in presentation of data and is also viable over the long term.
In addition to this fundamental problem of display globe manufacturers, historical buying patterns plus long-standing tradition limit the content of most globes to topographic and/or political information. Special interest contents, such as rainfall, climate, vegetation and population, are generally presented in a planar map context and are virtually unrepresented in a globular format, even though a globe is clearly the most accurate medium to display such information.
The described static nature of globes as product and the infrequency of repeat purchases of globes by the public based upon cost of product have limited globe manufacturers to offering a narrow range of product selections.